


under another name

by Wildcard



Category: Discworld - Terry Pratchett
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 1, Gen, Purimgifts 2021
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 12:15:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29609277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wildcard/pseuds/Wildcard
Summary: Young vampires often visit other vampire families to strengthen alliances. While visiting the de Magpyr's, Maladicta has a conversation with Lacrimosa.
Relationships: Lacrimosa de Magpyr & Maladict, Lacrimosa de Magpyr & Maladicta
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9
Collections: Purimgifts 2021





	under another name

**Author's Note:**

  * For [opalmatrix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/opalmatrix/gifts).



> _There was a brief scream from one of the lesser vampires behind them. Agnes couldn't remember his name, it was probably Fenrir or Maledicta or something, but she did recall that he preferred to be known as Gerald.” - Carpe Jugulum_
> 
> Maledicta is such a strange name that I don’t think Agnes would’ve thought of it out of nowhere! It seemed far more likely to me that she’d heard it, maybe because Maladicta was actually there? And from that spun this little drabble.

“Mary?” Lacrimosa suggested, tapping a short, painted fingernail against her cheek in a way that drew attention to the blush she’d painted on with all of a clown’s enthusiasm and skill. “Marigold? Of course, we could change your initials... Geraldine, perhaps. We don’t have a Geraldine yet.”  
  
“No.” The response was so curt as to be rude but Maladicta, quite frankly, did not care. She’d agreed to wear human-style clothing, albeit because it was more comfortable than the low-cut dresses and underwired nightgowns that were _de rigueur_ for female vampires, but she was not about to have some petulant vampire brat change her name to _Doris_. If only Vlad weren’t such an absolute wretch! Faced with a choice between a leering male vampire and a female vampire who was determined to pretend at humanity, Maladicta opted for the option that was at least novel.

Her gaze drifted down to Lacrimosa’s bare throat for a moment before she forced her eyes to snap up to the other vampire’s painted face. No matter how much blush Lacrimosa used to mimic a human’s natural flush, the cold, dead eyes gave away her inner monster.  
  
“I like my name,” Maladicta said, affecting the sort of casual indolence she’d seen so many of her male cousins wear; like armor, it protected them from needing to ever care about anything. “If you _must_ nickname me, call me Mal.”

It was short, clean, and a warning in itself. Mal. Maladicta had offered it up on the spur of the moment but now, she rolled it through her mind and decided she liked it. It had none of the sharp edges of Maladicta, nor the potential for immature bawdy jokes; it was a clean page, a space where she could sketch out for herself whom she wanted to be.  
  
“Yes,” she said, lifting a gloved hand to cut off Lacrimosa’s tiresome whining about how that wasn’t a _human_ name, no human was called Mal. “Call me Mal.” 


End file.
